Read on Twitter
Last year, I summarized how climate change related extreme weather impacted agriculture & food production: https://twitter.com/JimBair62221006/status/1216112893906735104
What follows is an update for 2020.
#ClimateChange #foodsecurity #agriculture
What follows is an update for 2020.
#ClimateChange #foodsecurity #agriculture
This is How Climate Change Impacted Food Security Around the Globe in 2020
*thread*
#ClimateChange #foodsecurity #agriculture #food
*thread*
#ClimateChange #foodsecurity #agriculture #food
In sum:
2020 was the year of drought.
And flooding.
And cyclones.
And locusts.
#ClimateChange #foodsecurity #agriculture #food
2020 was the year of drought.
And flooding.
And cyclones.
And locusts.
#ClimateChange #foodsecurity #agriculture #food
We begin in Africa
Where flooding devastated millions, destroying crops & fields.
“Floods washed away at least 2 million tons of rice in Nigeria, the second-largest importer of the grain. That is more than 25% of the previously projected national output” https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/floods-washed-away-more-that-25-of-nigeria-s-rice-harvest-1.1489794
Where flooding devastated millions, destroying crops & fields.
“Floods washed away at least 2 million tons of rice in Nigeria, the second-largest importer of the grain. That is more than 25% of the previously projected national output” https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/floods-washed-away-more-that-25-of-nigeria-s-rice-harvest-1.1489794
Flooding has also destroyed crops in South Sudan, and is raising the specter of famine. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-south-sudan-faces-famine-threat-as-flooding-continues/
To the east, Cyclone Gati- the strongest storm on record to hit Somalia- recently ravaged traders & herders https://www.agriculture.com/markets/newswire/im-looking-for-god-to-help-somalias-most-powerful-storm-leaves-traders-herders
Farmers also suffered from whiplash between extremes, as in Nigeria, where ‘Flooded farms and scorched crops are realities of farmers’ in Lagos State https://www.salaamgateway.com/story/nigeria-travails-of-lagos-farmers-as-climate-change-bites-hard
Nigeria serves as a further example of how climate change acts as a threat multiplier – its impacts have exacerbated those of COVID and conflict, putting 300,000 children at imminent risk of death due to severe malnutrition. https://punchng.com/300000-north-east-children-may-die-of-malnutrition-this-year-un/
In Eastern Africa: “weather patterns exacerbated by climate change have created ideal conditions for insect numbers to surge... Warmer seas are creating more rain, wakening dormant eggs, & cyclones that disperse the swarms are getting stronger” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-the-second-wave-is-coming-countries-in-east-africa-face-new-locust/
And by year’s end:
'A new generation of locust swarms is threatening to wipe out the livelihoods of farmers and herders across eastern Africa - deepening a food crisis in a region where 35 million people are already hungry' https://www.reuters.com/article/africa-locusts-hunger/fresh-wave-of-crop-ravaging-locust-swarms-threaten-e-african-herders-farmers-idUSL4N2IW2NS
'A new generation of locust swarms is threatening to wipe out the livelihoods of farmers and herders across eastern Africa - deepening a food crisis in a region where 35 million people are already hungry' https://www.reuters.com/article/africa-locusts-hunger/fresh-wave-of-crop-ravaging-locust-swarms-threaten-e-african-herders-farmers-idUSL4N2IW2NS
That's not all-
Rising temperatures drove a massive increase in fruit fly populations in Kenya & "Farmers in fruit fly-infested areas are losing on average up to half their crops each year to the tiny pests" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-kenya-pests/kenyan-farmers-battle-fruit-fly-menace-as-climate-warms-idUSKCN21U06C
Rising temperatures drove a massive increase in fruit fly populations in Kenya & "Farmers in fruit fly-infested areas are losing on average up to half their crops each year to the tiny pests" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-kenya-pests/kenyan-farmers-battle-fruit-fly-menace-as-climate-warms-idUSKCN21U06C
